Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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Jamnesty rocks social justice awareness

2017-04_10_Jamnesty_Portrait_Chase
Chase Karacostas

It’s not uncommon to hear live music serenading people as they’re bustling past Gregory Gym Plaza. But on April 12, one concert will seek to benefit more than just active gym goers and weary students.

From 6 to 9:30 p.m., UT’s Amnesty International chapter will host their annual Jamensty event, a benefit concert featuring local bands to raise awareness for human rights. This year, the club chose to focus on intersectional feminism, with all proceeds being donated to Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera, an organization that works to fight against injustice for female workers along the Texas-Mexico border. 

Considering the club’s mostly female membership, Maleeha Syed, journalism junior and chapter president, said the theme of feminism was inevitable.


“We have a very present female force on our leadership team,” Syed said. “But it’s such an important issue, even for the boys.”

Syed said she was excited to discuss inclusivity within the feminist movement.

“When we talk about intersectional feminism, we never want to exclude a group,” Syed said. “So we talk about trans rights and the LGBTQ community and women of color, among others. You can’t miss out on a marginalized group, which is the whole idea.”

In addition to live music, the concert will also feature spoken word poets and various petitions for attendants to sign. Syed said she hopes the petitions will get people involved and eager to learn about social justice issues.

“We get to teach so many people about Amnesty and how we try to raise human rights awareness around campus,” Syed said. “It’s really cool to see all kinds of people at the concert who you never thought would be interested.”

Danin Yorn, an anthropology and French junior, organized the acts and petitions as event coordinator. Yorn said planning for the event relied heavily on support from the UT community.

“It was a lot of outreach,” Yorn said. “We made fliers and posted them all around campus. We also got help from the UT campus radio and other organizations like ACLU and the Liberal Arts Refugee Alliance. It’s great to see people coming together for one cause.”

Along with the petitions, which center around the theme of feminism, human rights organizations supporting other causes will table at the event to get students involved in their community. Alisa Hernandez, international relations and sociology sophomore, said she hopes the tabling will help students who are unaware of the impact they can make. As Amnesty’s treasurer, Hernandez has made her own impact by fundraising for the event through selling succulents.

“Sometimes it’s hard when you know that things are going on but you don’t know what to do about it,” Hernandez said. “So we have a lot of different clubs tabling and hopefully people will be inspired and get involved around campus.”

Hernandez said she was excited to host an event around intersectional feminism because of its importance in today’s society. Although the feminist movement has been around for over a century, she said the movement also has a history of exclusiveness within itself.

“It’s really important because often when people throw around the word ‘feminist,’ it’s what is called ‘white feminism,’” Hernandez said. “(White feminism) is when people don’t understand that lives are intersectional and different forms of oppression affect certain people more than others. So we decided to emphasize intersectionality because we want people to understand the importance of it and what feminism is and should be.”

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Jamnesty rocks social justice awareness